The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array Mission (NuSTAR) is an X-ray mission with the first focusing optics for hard X-rays (above 10 keV).NuStar is led by Caltech and managed by JPL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. It was launched on June 13, 2012 from a Pegasus XL rocket near the Kwajalein Atoll, and placed in a low-inclination low-Earth orbit. Initially deployed for a two year mission, it continues to collect data. NuSTAR has an expected orbital lifetime of 10 years.
Mission Characteristics
Lifetime
Jul 2012–present
Special Features
The first hard X-ray focusing optics at higher X-ray energies
Lifetime
Jul 2012–present
Special Features
The first hard X-ray focusing optics at higher X-ray energies
Payload
Instrument
Characteristic
Details
Conical Wolter Type-I mirrors
Focal Length
10 m
Field of View
10′ at 10 kev (FWHM) 6′ at 68 keV (FWHM)
Angular Resolution
58″ (HPD), 18″ (FWHM)
The mirrors consists of 133 concentric conical multi-layer mirror shells. The mirror shells are coated with Pt/SiC and W/Si multilayers atop thin sheets of flexible glass, with graphite spacers between nested layers. They are mounted on a mast that was extended in space to provide a focal length of 10 m. A metrology system of two lasers on the optics end that are pointed at three light-sensing detectors at the detector end of the telescope.
Focal Plane Detector Modules (FPMA and FPMB)
Energy Range
3–79 keV
Energy Resolution
400 ev at 10 keV 900 eV at 68 keV
The FPM detectors are Cadium-Zinc-Telluride (CdZnTe) rectangular crystals, 20×20×2 mm in size, divided into 32×32 grid array of pixels. The detectors are surrounded by Cesium Iodide (CsI) crystals as active anti-coincidence detectors to register and reject background from high energy photons and cosmic rays entering the detector from off-axis directions.
Conical Wolter Type-I mirrors
Focal Length
10 m
Field of View
10′ at 10 kev (FWHM) 6′ at 68 keV (FWHM)
Angular Resolution
58″ (HPD), 18″ (FWHM)
The mirrors consists of 133 concentric conical multi-layer mirror shells. The mirror shells are coated with Pt/SiC and W/Si multilayers atop thin sheets of flexible glass, with graphite spacers between nested layers. They are mounted on a mast that was extended in space to provide a focal length of 10 m. A metrology system of two lasers on the optics end that are pointed at three light-sensing detectors at the detector end of the telescope.
Focal Plane Detector Modules (FPMA and FPMB)
Energy Range
3–79 keV
Energy Resolution
400 ev at 10 keV 900 eV at 68 keV
The FPM detectors are Cadium-Zinc-Telluride (CdZnTe) rectangular crystals, 20×20×2 mm in size, divided into 32×32 grid array of pixels. The detectors are surrounded by Cesium Iodide (CsI) crystals as active anti-coincidence detectors to register and reject background from high energy photons and cosmic rays entering the detector from off-axis directions.
Science Highlights
Conducting a survey of black holes, monitor the mechanisms of their growth, and the radiation from infalling matter
Study processes at the core of jet structures around super-massive black holes
Map remnants of recent stellar explosions (novae, supernovae, and hypernovae)
Study compact stellar remnants (black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarf stars)
Provide insight into the solar corona and giant flares
Archive
The HEASARC hosts event data, products, and catalogs.
